CHAPTER ONE

THE BEGINNINGS OF THE EAST-WEST

DIALOGUE: AN EXAMINATION OF DIONYSIAC
REPRESENTATIONS IN GANDHARAN
AND KUSHAN-MATHURAN ART 1 2

SEUNGJUNG KIM

In 330 BC, Alexander of Macedon (356-323 BC), popularly known as

Alexander the Great, defeated the last of the Achaemenid kings, Darius III
(380-330 BC), and thereafter set out to conquer the previous landholdings
of the vast Persian Empire. Alexander swept through present day Iran,
reached the Hindu Kush, and expanded his Hellenistic Kingdom to the
northern borders of India, establishing multiple colonies, or “Alexandrias”,
along the way. One such city, Alexandria on the Caucasus, identified with
modern day Begram in Afghanistan, has yielded one of the richest
ensembles of treasures in Central Asia, attesting to intense commercial
exchange on the crossroads of Eurasia. 2 A series of excavations, spanning
3

ten years from 1936 to 1946, led to the remarkable discovery of the
so-called “Begram hoard”, famous for the variety of Indic style ivories. 3 4

Hellenistic and Roman imports were also found within the same
archaeological context: bronze figurines of an unmistakably Classical
character, painted glassware from Roman Egypt, as well as Hellenistic
plaster cast medallions (emblemata) that may be related to the circulation of
motifs and copies. Chinese lacquer ware features in this hoard as well,
among other treasures, placing the remains of the ancient city in the context

1
I owe Prof. Vidya Dehejia for her generous guidance and Dr Christian Luczanits
for his insights, and I thank Dr Michelle Huang for her editorial work and amazing
patience.
2
Some scholars follow A. Foucher’s initial identification of the site as ancient
Kapisi, the summer capital of the Kushans.
3
First systematic excavation done at the site dates to 1936 under the direction of J.
Carl and J. Meunié, and the French Archaeological Delegation in Afghanistan.
 The Beginnings of the East-West Dialogue 17

of the trade routes between China, South-Central Asia, and the Greco-Roman
world, in the centuries following Alexander.
Although Alexander’s presence in these eastern-most areas of conquest
was rather short-lived, his legacy was certainly not, as it marked an
historical point of departure in cross-cultural encounters between the East
and West that continues to this day. The burgeoning contemporary interest
in such early exchanges most recently culminated in the travelling
exhibition titled Afghanistan: Hidden Treasures from the National Museum,
Kabul which recently concluded its itinerary at the Metropolitan Museum
of Art in New York in 2009 (Hiebert and Cambon 2008). This paper sets out
to examine a particular visual case study that may exemplify something of a
concrete “beginning” of cross-cultural dialogues between the East and
West, more than 2,000 years ago. Through the lens of a particular
iconography and style that we label dionysiac, we shall examine the curious
confluence of Greco-Roman Classicism and Indian Buddhism: the former
as constituting the foundation of Western civilisation, and the latter, which
developed into a ubiquitous current in all aspects of Eastern culture and
thought.

The Syncretic Context

The millennium following the conquest of Alexander indeed saw a
flowering of mixed cultural synthesis in these western Asiatic lands known
as the Greater Gandhara. 4 The region in question, coinciding roughly with
5

eastern Afghanistan, Pakistan and northwest India along the Indus River,
witnessed one of the most diverse cultural, ethnical and political histories
during this time. This is certainly not the place to elaborate the mottled
history of the region. 5 Simply consider, however, that the Seleucids,
6

Greco-Bactrians, Indo-Greeks, Scythians, Parthians, and finally a powerful

Central Asian nomadic tribe, Yuezhi 月支 as the Chinese called them, or the
Kushans as their dynasty was eventually named, all had their turn in
presiding over the region within the few centuries following Alexander. It is
hence no accident that the region developed into an active hub in the
network of trade routes collectively known as the Silk Road, eventually

4
For confusions in the terminology regarding geographical areas, see Brancaccio
and Behrendt 2006, 1-2; for definition of the term “Greater Gandhara” see Salomon
1999, 3; for a geographical and historical overview of Greater Gandhara, see
Behrendt 2004, 12-25.
5
For a brief overview of the history, see Zwalf 1996, 11-7; Errington and Cribb
1992, 1-10.
18 Chapter One

connecting Rome to the far stretches of the East Asian subcontinent.

Naturally, we find a multi-lingual corpus of historical sources, including
those written in Greek, Latin, and Chinese: records of Megasthenes, the
Greek Ambassador to Candragupta’s court; the biography of Apollonius,
the first century sage who went to Taxila; accounts by Chinese Buddhist
monks such as Faxian 法顯 (ca. 337-432) and Xuanzang 玄奘 (ca. 602-664),
who kindly left us travel logs during their pilgrimage to Gandhara. 6 7

Numismatic evidence from Greater Gandhara also bespeaks multi-ethnic

and multi-lingual societies. A typical bilingual Indo-Greek coin from first
century BC may look no different from a Hellenistic one at first sight.
Portraits of the ruler will often decorate both sides: a typical head in profile
for the obverse, and perhaps an equestrian portrait for the reverse. On the
obverse, a familiar legend in Greek may frame and identify the Indo-Greek
king shown in his full Hellenistic charm; the reverse, however, will usually
carry a translation in the local Gandharan Kharo hī script.
The well-known Kanishka Boddo coins dated roughly to the second
century AD show us a different kind of syncretism. 7 On the obverse,
8

Kanishka I is usually portrayed in full-length, posing as if a proud

Hellenistic ruler leaning on a sceptre. Yet the representational style of the
Kushan ruler has lost all traces of Hellenism. Although Yuezhi by ethnicity,
Kanishka nevertheless used Bactrian in the legend, written in a modified
Greek script to allow for phonetic accuracy: ÞAONANOÞAO KANHÞKI
KOÞANO (shaonanoshao kanishki koshano), which translates to “King of
Kings, Kanishka the Kushan.” Moreover, the reverse, customarily a
Greco-Roman deity in the West, showcases none other than the Buddha
himself, identified clearly by the Greek letters: BOΔΔO. Enveloped in a
double halo, the figure displays the abhaya mudra (fear-not gesture), with
other identifiable characteristics such as elongated earlobes, and the usnisa
atop his head, standing in an elegant hip-shot pose.
Numerous finds as such from Greater Gandhara in the few centuries
around Christ attest to complex amalgamation of cultures, traditions and
conventions, often defying characterization in style, form and content. Out
of this melting pot emerged one of the most famous and recognizable styles
that is termed Gandharan. 8 The so-called standing “Apollo-Buddha” statues
9

of the Kushan period (first century-320 AD) will be familiar to most, having

6
Megasthenes, Indika; Philostratos, The Life and Times of Apollonius of Tyana;
Faxian, A Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms; Xuanzang, Si-Yu-Ki: Buddhist Records
of the Western World.
7
Göbl 1984, type 66; for dating, see Fussman 1987, 68-9, and references therein.
8
For the complexity of styles that coexists under the rubric of the term Gandharan,
see Nehru 1989.
 The Beginnings of the East-West Dialogue 19

acquired the descriptive epithet for their apparent indebtedness to Classical

sculptures of Apollo. 9 The usnisa, a cranial protuberance and one of
1

Buddha’s thirty-two physiological traits called the laksanas, is translated

here into silky waves of hair strands tied into a top knot, as in the famed
Apollo Belvedere. Is the Gandharan Buddha wearing a Roman Toga? A
Greek tunic and a himation? Regardless, such voluminous folds are rather
unknown in the Indic visual tradition. So is the subtle modeling of the soft,
undulating surfaces of the visage. The bent leg posture is often traced back
to the Classical trademark of contrapposto. 10 1

The concept of “Gandharan Classicism”, i.e., the link between

Greco-Roman Classicism and the Gandharan style, may seem rather
tenuous to art historians attuned to finer distinction of styles, but unfamiliar
with the visual tradition of South Asia. When considering, however, the
Indic styles that preceded or followed this particular period, the Classical
traits betrayed in Gandharan sculpture start to emerge so distinctly as
something of an anomalous interlude in the history of South Asian art. Only
then one starts to understand the obsession of classically trained European
scholars of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, captivated by such
“exotic familiarity”, thrilled to have discovered a form of Greek-infused art
that had permeated through the far eastern corners of the Hellenistic
Empire. 11
1

Since Alfred Foucher published the first volume of his magnum opus
L’art greco-Bouddhique du Gandhara in 1905, the origins of this
Gandharan style have been in debate for more than a century. The term
“Greco-Buddhist,” still popularly used, refers to Foucher’s thesis that the
Classical style in Gandharan sculpture is a natural by-product of Hellenistic
imperialism in the first couple of centuries following the conquest of
Alexander. 12 At this time, artistic influence from the Hellenistic world was
1

“exerted” onto this area, and cultural marriage between Greek rationalism
and Indian religion, i.e., Buddhism, formed a new artistic tradition that lived
on through Scytho-Parthian and later Kushan Empires. Foucher’s views as
such attracted as many adherents as they provoked critiques. Included in the
latter is the famous rebuttal by Ananda Coomaraswamy, claiming that the
representation of the Buddha figure emerged instead as a product of

9
For a brief history of associations between the two types of statues, see Taddei
1980.
10
See Huntington 1999, 135, Fig. 8.10 (Standing Buddha, Lahore Museum).
11
See Errington 1999, for a new assessment on Charles Masson, best known for his
discovery of the Bimaran gold casket and his nineteenth-century collection from no
less than fifty Buddhist stupas around Kabul; see also, Taddei 1980.
12
Foucher 1905-51, vol. 2, 401ff; see also Foucher 1913.
20 Chapter One

indigenous Indian art traditions (Coomaraswamy 1927). Whether the first

anthropomorphic form of the Buddha around the time of Christ was
Gandharan or Mathuran, or rather, rephrasing it, due to the Western/Classical
tradition or Indigenous/Indian tradition, is still a matter of debate. 13 Having
1

started as a challenge against a conventional Euro-centric dissemination

theory among the Victorian generation of European scholars, with a tinge of
nationalism, a century of scholarship on the matter brought to light a
number of complex problems in chronology and style. 14 1

Another debate concerning the Classical style in Gandharan art stresses

a direct contact with the culture of the Roman Empire, rather than a survival
of Hellenistic traditions from the Bactrian Greeks. Hence came the term
“Romano-Buddhist” as a new epithet for Gandharan art (Wheeler 1949).
Newer assessments yet, simply include further infusions from the
Mediterranean world, as well as Iranian, Scythian, Parthian traditions, while
downplaying a single source of influence. 15 Grouped under a general term
1

“Asian Hellenism”, these views nevertheless share the same fundamental

theoretical framework of Foucher and his followers—ultimately, they are
all multifaceted dissemination theories.
In the wake of a renewed interest in cross-cultural studies, there is a dire
need for newer assessments and understanding of complex cultural
interactions that engendered the phenomenon that is Gandhara. This is not
to say that an attempt is made here to propose a new theoretical framework
of cultural syncretism. Rather, we shall narrow our focus onto a very
particular aspect of Gandharan and Kushan-Mathuran art that is more
concretely indebted to the Greco-Roman tradition, i.e., the cult of Dionysos
and its visual representations. By examining an unmistakably Greco-Roman
subject matter being used and adapted to an Indic religious context, we
might understand further the familiar issues of stylistic and iconographic
appropriations and adaptations across cultures, as well as the cultural
contexts that enabled such exchanges.

13
For example, Rowland 1963, and Franz 1965, 93 adheres to Foucher, while later
scholarship tends to complement the two extreme views, such as van Lohuizen–de
Leeuw 1981; Cribb 1981 revisits the issue with newer archaeological evidence. For
more recent reflections on the history of the problem, see Spagnoli 1995, Taddei
1996, and Taddei 1999.
14
Relatively recent accounts on the origin of the Buddha image may be found in
Krishan 1996, who closely follows Coomaraswamy; for a stylistic assessment of
Gandharan art, see Nehru 1989; for Kushan chronology, see Cribb 1999, and
references therein.
15
Huntington 1999, 110; Nehru 1989.
 The Beginnings of the East-West Dialogue 21

Dionysiac Representations in Gandhara

and Kushan-Mathura
The exquisitely carved relief pillar from Kushan Mathura in the Cleveland
Museum of Art is an excellent “dionysiac oeuvre of north-western Indian art
by any standard (Fig. 1-1). 16 Carved on two adjacent sides, the Cleveland
1

pillar is highly reminiscent of a corner-post of a stone railing surrounding a

Buddhist stupa. The exact provenance is, quite typically, unknown, but the
red speckled Sikri sandstone is traced to the region of ancient Mathura,
south of Delhi (Carter 1982, 249). Its generic qualities, however, ends here,
as the Cleveland pillar is more of a unique anomaly than a trend. These
“voluptuous Indian Bacchants” are, as once noted, “thoroughly Indian
creations, not pale imitations of Hellenism” (Carter 1992, 51). The rounded
forms of the body, breasts and facial contours, heavy eyelids and fleshy
cheeks, all have the genuine stamp of the Mathuran style. What are then, the
elements that still enable us to recognise this oeuvre as distinctively and
unmistakably “dionysiac” in the visual tradition of the Classical West?
In order to answer this question we shall turn to an instructive
comparison with a Greek dionysiac representation par excellence: the
exterior decoration of a Classical Greek vase by the painter Makron, dated
to mid-fifth century BC (Fig. 1-2). 17 Shown here in a continuous frieze-like
1

arrangement is a group of female figures around the altar and cult image of
Dionysos. Such a procession-like revelry of a dionysiac character is termed
thiasos. The eleven female revelers (numbered from 1 to 11) assume a
variety of poses suggesting dance; their trance-like state induced by wine
are evoked by the awkward gestures of their arms and upturned faces, while
some of them still hold drinking cups. In addition, their deliberately
dishevelled hair, bare feet, and the diaphanous, see-through garments
visually mark them apart from the ideals of well-behaved, proper,
aristocratic Athenian women. The wine-god Dionysos’ human followers,
while generically termed bacchantes (or bacchai), are here shown with
specific mythical references to maenads—the mythical female followers of
the god himself—who have left the comfort of their homes and wander
around the mountains in a cultic, wine-induced frenzy. 18 1

Maenads are conventionally depicted holding their attribute, the

thyrsos—a celery stalk—while drinking and dancing, as well as engaging in

16
Cleveland Museum of Art 1977.34.
17
Berlin Staatliche Museen 2290.
18
For explanations on the term maenad, and finer distinctions from other female
followers of Dionysos, see Hedreen 1994.
22 Chapter One

wild acts such as devouring raw animal flesh. The latter activity is hinted at
by the left-most maenad (6), who flaunts a miniature deer figure in one
hand, while she proudly holds up the thyrsos across her chest with the other
hand. Three other maenads (2, 4 & 8) wield the thyrsos as well. The central
dionysiac activity of drinking is alluded to not only by a maenad (7)
fondling a drinking cup (skyphos), but also by the firmly grounded vessel
(krater) placed under one of the handles, between two maenads (9 & 10)
who acknowledge its presence. This large vessel, in which wine was mixed
with water, is the centerpiece of the Greek symposium, both visually and
practically, as an indispensable anchor around which all Greek drinking
activities unfold (Lissarrague 1990). Diluting wine was an essential element
of the Greek drinking custom, the importance of which can be sensed in
explicit references to that of the foreign “barbarians”, who drank their wine
unmixed. 19 The krater thus becomes a symbol of civilization in Greece, so
2

strongly tied with the identity of “Greekness” in their drinking activities,

whether symposiastic (banquet imagery), or dionysiac (mythological, or in
reference to the cult) in character. The religious or cultic dimension in
Makron’s vase is denoted by the altar, next to which stands the cult image of
Dionysos, adorned with ivy and fruits attesting to his fertility and power
over vegetation and nature. Another important element in dionysiac
imagery is music, as shown by the double flute player (11) facing the cult
statue.
Let us come back to the Cleveland pillar (Fig. 1-1). Despite its stylistic
differences, explicit dionysiac references that were noted in the Classical
vase are immediately recognizable here. A clear iconographic connection is
thus established between the two historically unrelated objects, going well
beyond a superficial resemblance simply due to the common motif of
drinking. The Cleveland pillar is divided into two vertical sections: lower
predella-like panels support the larger main registers with female revelers.
The two sides of the predella panels show two independent narrative
vignettes, while the upper main register is understood as a continuous frieze
of four female figures in revelry. Further up, these revelers give way to a
frieze of smaller bust-like musicians, and finally, grape vines in low relief
generously crown the top. Allusions to wine, drinking, and merrymaking
are thus clear throughout, as is the motif of an all-female procession-like
revelry that is distinctly “dionysiac”. In addition, drinking cups, horns and
mixing kraters are placed deliberately as visual anchors reinforcing the
context of wine drinking. The repeated motif of the large wine-containing
vessel is certainly not accidental, and suggests a continuity in the dionysiac

19
Herodotus 6.84, for example, uses the expression “drink like a Scythian”.
 The Beginnings of the East-West Dialogue 23

semantics discussed for the Classical Greek context. The notable placing of
a sizeable wine-vessel between the two female revelers on the right face of
the Cleveland pillar has clear and unmistakable precedents from the
Classical world, as we have seen in Fig. 1-2. The lower left-facing predella
also shows a large vessel, whose contents are being ladled into a smaller cup
by a hunch-back lady. 20 The usage of this vessel on the ground is thus
2

equated to a Greek krater (mixing bowl), and by visual extension, the same
should apply to that of the right-facing main panel as well. 21 One can thus
2

easily link the placement of the vessels on the Cleveland pillar visually and
semantically to the Makron vase, anchoring the subject matter as revolving
around a proper dionysiac context of wine-drinking. 22 2

Other important dionysiac elements include music-making, depicted

here by the upper frieze of bust-like musicians with various instruments of
local and foreign, Near-Eastern origin. 23 The key visual focus, however, is
2

none other than the female revelers themselves. These half-nude figures
pull frivolously on their diaphanous drapery, giving the artist a chance to
render neatly delineated folds created by the tension on the otherwise
smooth body-clinging sheets. Such carefully attended drapery has been
readily recognised as a clear foreign element, conforming neither to the
forms nor style of Mathuran art, and generically characterised by the term
“Hellenistic”. Such designation is, as in the case of Gandharan
“Apollo-Buddhas”, of course problematic. In fact, the highly stylised
rendering of the frills in a calm, almost mechanic and decorative manner,
can hardly be called “Hellenistic” in the convention of Western art history,
whose tropes include “baroque” excess and richness in style enabled by
deep undercutting drill-work. Rather, could we understand it as a
manifestation of the local Mathuran sculptural vocabulary, a stylistic
translation of a foreign element? Or, in fact, should we be re-evaluating the
line of inquiry itself, i.e., start questioning the pure formalist approach

20
For the predella scenes as possible allusions to local narratives of Buddhist jataka
stories, see Carter 1982, 255.
21
Carter 1982, 249, refers to the vessel in the main register as being reminiscent of
the Greek drinking cup (kantharos) associated with Dionysos. This is highly
unlikely due to its large size and its placement on the ground, which is much more
akin to the krater in usage. Its superficial resemblance to a Greek kantharos—two
handles and a high stem—is all but compelling, and is more reminiscent of generic
metal vessels from the Near East.
22
See Lissarague 1991, 19-46, for a structural analysis of the Greek krater in its
context of wine-drinking symposia.
23
One of the musicians plays a triangular harp known as a trigonus, an ancient Near
Eastern instrument common in Hellenized Asia; see Chaitarya Deva 1978, 55, pl.
5.11.
24 Chapter One

within the art historical discourse?

While stylistic differences may subsist, there are fundamental
iconographic and formal elements that closely relate the female revelers on
the Cleveland pillar to their traditional Greek counterparts. Their
gesticulating arms and sweeping legs in processional dance, do in fact
clearly recall the “frenzied” state of the maenads shown in Fig. 1-2. The
frontal female figure on the right panel of the Cleveland pillar balances a
drinking vessel on her head as if to challenge her inebriated state—a pose
assumed also by the bottom left figure (5) on the Makron vase. The same
Cleveland pillar figure holds in her left hand what looks like a palm branch
for a festive occasion. This palm branch could be a direct misquotation of
the Greek maenad’s thyrsos, or at least visually indebted to the Classical
iconographic tradition. This, if so, coupled with the fact that all revelers on
the Cleveland pillar are female, doubly reinforces the dionysiac cultic
connotation; maenads are, after all, Dionysos’ cultic practitioners par
excellence, and exclusive representations of maenads are fairly routine in
the Classical dionysiac repertoire.
As for the partial nudity on the Cleveland pillar, precedents can be found
locally in voluptuous Yakshi figures that have adorned other Buddhist
stupas. Other parallels from the West, and visually striking ones at that, can
be found in contemporary Roman visual tradition, rather than Greek, where
nudity was strictly reserved for hetairai (courtesans) and the goddess
Aphrodite. On an exquisite Roman sarcophagus now in Munich, with a
typical dionysiac thiasos, we see eye-catching similarities in the back-turned
female figure, revealing sensuous curves of her torso (Fig. 1-3). 24 Highly
2

reminiscent of our Mathuran example (far-right figure) also offering her

back to the viewer, the Munich reveler extends both arms from which the
loosely falling drapery creates a sweeping U-shaped frame for the nude
upper body. The diaphanous drapery itself offers a teasing view of the
contours of her lower body. Dionysiac revelry was an especially attractive
subject for the Roman artists to explore the various viewpoints of the nude
female figure; the subtle curves of the nude female form seen from the back
were a special favourite in their artistic repertoire, and as we shall see
further, popular with Gandharan artists as well.
A few other examples in Mathuran sculpture labelled as “dionysiac”
may seem pale in comparison to the Cleveland pillar. The so-called
“Palikhera block” shows a portly figure seated with a drinking cup,
commonly identified with Kubera, the Yaksha-king. 25 He is surrounded by
2

24
Munich Glyptothek 365 (mid-second century AD).
25
See Rosenfield 1967, 248, Fig. 47, and Carter 1968, 122-3.
 The Beginnings of the East-West Dialogue 25

his attendants, one of which holds a drinking cup in the same manner, and
another holds a highly stylised grape cluster. Can we, in fact, place a
“dionysiac” label on such works that belong not only stylistically but also
iconographically to Kushan Mathura? Or should we understand it as a
product of a local wine-cult independent of Dionysos altogether? 26 M. 2

Carter takes the middle path, recognising this piece as a testament to the
readiness of the local culture for the incoming, foreign cult of Dionysos:
Yaksha worship involving drinking rites were already in place, which
fostered a religious syncretism that involved Dionysos and his bacchantes
with Kubera and his Yakshas (Carter 1968, 123; Carter 1982, 253). She
further argues that this put a strong Dionysiac cast to minor deities such as
Yakshas and Nagas, who were gradually absorbed into the Buddhist
pantheon (Carter 1968, 140-4). The problem, however, rests on establishing
a firm Buddhist context for these dionysiac oeuvres. Unfortunately, so few
of the extant artefacts from the Kushan period have preserved their
archaeological context, as so many have surfaced from undocumented
excavations of varying degrees of legality. A noticeable lack of provenance
and context for the oeuvres is a regrettable predicament that permeates
throughout Kushan scholarship. In most cases therefore, connecting the
specific object, be it monumental sculpture or portable items, to an
undisputed Buddhist context can be problematic.
In the Gandharan tradition, we have a somewhat more substantial
corpus of images that has been associated with specific dionysiac
references. Although Gandharan artists seem to be more at home with the
concept of dionysiac festivities, interestingly none has yet come to light that
provide the visual and iconographical parallel or precedence for the
exquisite Mathuran pillar with maenad-like figures in a dionysiac thiasos
Most of the Gandharan examples labelled “dionysiac” are frieze-like relief
panels populated with evenly spaced figures engaged rather formulaically
in either drinking, wine making, or amorous encounters. With very little
exception, the archaeological provenances of such Gandharan reliefs are
unknown, and thus their Buddhist contexts may be questioned. 27 Allusions
2

to drinking, music making and feasting are present, but apart from these
studied elements, their relatively calm poses and evenly spaced composition
reflect nothing of the frenzied Bacchic revelry in the Classical repertoire.

26
Balarama is another Indic deity associated with wine and is often portrayed with a
drinking cup.
27
An unpublished stupa found in recent excavations at Zar Dheri (Pakistan) shows
these so-called “dionysiac” scenes on panels integrated into the relief decorations of
the stupa. O. Bopearachchi, paper presented at the ISAW, New York University, 9
December 2009.
26 Chapter One

A remarkable Gandharan example of an “amorous” drinking scene can

be seen on a statue base in the Lahore Museum in Pakistan. 28 A pair of
2

couples is seated within a stylised lion frame, the left of which is explicitly
engaged in drinking. Conventionally considered “bacchanalian”, the scene
has been interpreted as amorous dalliance of Yaksha pairs (mithuna), again,
in an unspecified Buddhist context, into which they were syncretised. 29 3

Whatever the label, be it mithunic or bacchanalian, this classic Gandharan

relief is particularly important for its prominent display of back-turned
female nudes, similar to the right-most figure on the Cleveland pillar. One
notices immediately the distinctive way in which the visual focal point is
rendered upon the women’s sensually bared backs and buttocks, whose
rhythmic curves are further accentuated as they twist to meet the gaze of
their frontal male consorts, whose laps they occupy. Indian mithuna figures
around this time, on the other hand, usually display the female body in
frontal view.
The visual continuity displayed in these bared backs of Gandharan
female consorts with a certain Roman iconographic tradition is rather
striking, the details of which are reserved for future study. Especially
pertinent is the relief sculpture on Roman sarcophagi bearing the name
“marine thiasoi”, whose descriptive label literally reflects the conception
that they are, most simply put, dionysiac thiasoi transplanted onto the sea.
All the characteristics of dionysiac revelry prevail, only now we have sea
nymphs, or Nereids, riding marine-centaurs or tritons, in lieu of maenads
consorting with satyrs, their dionysiac counterparts on land. The visual echo
seen in the seated, back-turned Nereids on Roman sarcophagi and the
Gandharan bacchantes in Lahore is rather uncanny: the drapery drops down
to reveal the curves of their strapped backs and bare buttocks, and the raised
arms placed around the shoulder of their companions makes the torso twist
gradually to reveal their faces in full profile.
It is rather interesting to note that the characteristic Odalisquean
portrayal of back-turned female figure is not common in the general Roman
artistic repertoire; rather, it seems to be a distinctive iconographic device
associated with sea-creature riding Nereids. There are strong indications
that such apparent similarities in the back-turned females observed in the
Gandharan oeuvres are not a mere coincidence. The artists of northern India
would have indeed been familiar with this particular visual tradition mostly

28
Lahore Museum, No. 1914 (statue base, Schist, w. 76.8 cm); see Carter 1982, Fig.
14.
29
Carter 1982, 253; Carter 1968, 128-9, bases this reading on other amorous
drinking couples from the accessory figures at Sanchi, which, although similar in
content, show very little visual and stylistic parallels.
 The Beginnings of the East-West Dialogue 27

by ways of portable goods: for example, the so-called Gandharan “toilet

trays” found in abundance in sites such as Taxila. A number of such items
carry the motif of a single sea-nymph riding side-saddle atop a sea-creature,
with her back facing out towards the viewer.
Various contacts between the Roman Empire and the Indian subcontinent
are well attested. Numerous Roman coins have surfaced in Indian
excavations, and goods were traded both ways, as witnessed with the
famous Indic ivory figurine found in Pompeii (Suresh 2004; D’Ancona
1950). Another typical motif from Roman sarcophagi, that of the clipeus
imago (medallion portrait), has recently put to comparison with Gandharan
Buddhist funerary iconography (Srinivasan 2006). That is certainly not to
say that our Kushan dionysiac representations are indebted specifically to
the Roman tradition. On the contrary, we may even turn the question around
and ask: What has the Kushans contributed to the artistic koine of dionysiac
representations as a whole in the Indo-European context? The complexity
of the problem intensifies as one considers the origins of the cult of
Dionysos itself; the scholarly debates regarding his foreign identity in the
Greek pantheon explore cultic links back to the Near East, and even
according to some, an ancient Vedic Soma cult in India. Adding even more
layers to the problem is the belief that later Roman sources adapted
Dionysos’ myth on the model of Alexander’s conquest to India (Evans
1988, 128; Dalby 2003, 153-4). 30 That being said, we shall conclude with a
3

few reflections on the cultic significance of Dionysos known in the

Classical world and how it might bear on our Western Asiatic context.
Although speculative, there may be a symbolic link between cultic and
eschatological symbolisms of dionysiac representation in Roman
sarcophagi and certain aspects of Buddhist thought and practice. Especially
in the wake of Mahayana Buddhism, where strong preoccupations with
death and the afterlife, and concept of a living paradise grew, specific
funerary symbolisms of dionysiac bliss, and the soteriological character of
the chthonic god, may have indeed found home in Buddhist circles. 31 A 3

related, notable example is the chthonic hero par excellence, Herakles, who
apparently transmigrated into the iconography of Gandharan Vajrapani, one
of the main attendants of the Buddha and protector of the Faith (Flood
1989). As the “Heraklean” Vajrapani wields his thunderbolt rather than a
club, while still wearing his lion skin, we see the origins of Vajrapani in the
Greek martial hero with superhuman strength, whose image has always

30
Nonnos Dionysiaka (fourth century AD) describes Dionysos’ Indian invasion in
much detail; it is also recounted by Pausanias and Diodorus Siculus, the same
authors in Roman times attesting to Alexander’s Indian campaign.
31
See Tanabe 2003 for further reflections.
28 Chapter One

enjoyed its popularity among the Indo-Greek royalty. 32 When pursuing this
3

line of inquiry, however, as mentioned previously, one must bear in mind

the need to establish a concrete connection of such “dionysiac” oeuvres to a
Buddhist context, whether through archaeology or iconography. Without
such tangible connections, ideological speculations regarding the Dionysiac
cult and Buddhism will remain unsubstantiated.
Finally, we come to the north-western fringes of our Greater Gandharan
realm, where the relatively recent Tillya Tepe excavations in northern
Afghanistan yielded remarkable finds regarding our subject (Schiltz 2008).
Series of tombs were found of nomadic burials around the time of Christ,
which may geographically as well as temporally provide us with a more
concrete link between the Hellenistic and Roman West, and Kushan
Gandhara. The golden belt with medallions and turquoise inlaid pair of
clasps are but a few stunning examples of many locally produced ornaments
with Classical motifs, found in situ on the body of the deceased. 33 The belt
3

consists of braided gold chains that link a total of nine stunning gold
medallions, on which the slim Asiatic-looking Dionysos rides his panther
side-saddle in “royal ease”, while holding a drinking cup. On the turquoise
inlaid pair of clasps, each reflecting the other in mirror image, Dionysos is
now shown mounted on a hybrid monster with his consort Ariadne. The
latter is being crowned by Nike from the back (very common Greco-Roman
iconography), while the former benevolently pours wine through a drinking
horn held up to the mouth of a satyr-like figure, who leans back under the
god’s mount and is ready to consume the wine about to flow through the
horn. Although the Classical content is clear to anyone familiar with
Greco-Roman dionysiac representations, distinct idiosyncratic elements in
both iconography and style visibly mark them apart from typical
Greco-Roman productions. Neither piece, therefore, is an apology for
imitating Hellenism; rather, it seems to be a testament to the cult of
Dionysos being fully integrated and adopted to their own use in the funerary
sphere. Dated securely to before mid-first century AD based on numismatic
finds, these tombs whose owners may indeed be of the Yuezhi, the nomadic
ancestors of the Kushans, may provide us with a missing link, and enlighten
us further on the quest for our Asiatic Dionysos. 34 3

32
For numismatic examples, see Flood 1989, 18.
33
Schiltz 2008, catalogue nos. 107, 136.
34
For dating the Tillya Tepe tombs, see Schiltz 2008, 225-9.
 The Beginnings of the East-West Dialogue 29

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Fig. 1-1. Railing Pillar. India, Mathura, Kushan period (first century-320 AD), 100s.
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 The Beginnings of the East-West Dialogue 33

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 Beyond Boundaries:
East and West Cross-Cultural Encounters

Edited by

Michelle Ying Ling Huang

 Beyond Boundaries:
East and West Cross-Cultural Encounters,
Edited by Michelle Ying Ling Huang

This book first published 2011

Cambridge Scholars Publishing

12 Back Chapman Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 2XX, UK

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Copyright © 2011 by Michelle Ying Ling Huang and contributors

All rights for this book reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,
or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or
otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner.

ISBN (10): 1-4438-3294-4, ISBN (13): 978-1-4438-3294-6

 TABLE OF CONTENTS

List of Illustrations ................................................................................... viii

Acknowledgements .................................................................................... xi

Preface ...................................................................................................... xiii

Toshio Watanabe

Introduction ................................................................................................. 1
Michelle Ying Ling Huang

Part I: Early Examples of East & West Endeavours

Chapter One............................................................................................... 16
The Beginnings of the East-West Dialogue: An Examination of Dionysiac
Representations in Gandhara and Kushan-Mathuran Art
SeungJung Kim

Chapter Two .............................................................................................. 35

Early Global Encounters as Motor of Visual Language Change:
The Case of Medieval France
Anja Eisenbeiß

Chapter Three ............................................................................................ 52

Ottoman Miniatures and Hungarian Woodcuts:
A Strata of Representations in Common
AnnMarie Perl

Part II: Anglo-Japanese Cultural Exchanges in Museum Practice

and Art Making

Chapter Four.............................................................................................. 74
The Art of Copying: Reproductions of Japanese Masterpieces
in the British Museum
Princess Akiko of Mikasa

Chapter Five .............................................................................................. 86

vi Table of Contents

The Influence of Japanese Expertise on the British Reception

of Chinese Painting
Michelle Ying-Ling Huang

Chapter Six .............................................................................................. 110

A Legacy of Matsubayashi Tsurunosuke in St Ives: Introduction of the Art
of Japanese Ceramic Making to the British Studio Pottery
Shinya Maezaki

Part III: Fabricating the Other

Chapter Seven.......................................................................................... 122

Intended to Deceive: Illusionistic Painting at the Eighteenth-
Century Chinese Court
Kristina Kleutghen

Chapter Eight........................................................................................... 136

The Collecting of Famille Noire Porcelain in the West: The Problem
with Authenticity of Large Scale Famille Noire Vases
Konstanze Amelie Knittler

Chapter Nine............................................................................................ 149

Western Expectations and the Question of Self-Exoticism in the Works
of Contemporary Iranian Photographers
Samine Tabatabaei

Chapter Ten ............................................................................................. 167

Nihilist Nationalist or Syncretic Hybridist: A Visual Analysis
of the Representations of Mishima Yukio in the 1985 Edition of Barakei
Yayoi Shionoiri

Part IV: Cross-Cultural Encounters in Contemporary Visual Culture

Chapter Eleven ........................................................................................ 188

New Perspectives in Understanding the Art of Calligraphy in China
Sarah Sau Wah Ng

Chapter Twelve ....................................................................................... 209

Transnational Otaku Culture: A Comparative Study of Anime Fans
in the U.S. and in Taiwan
Pei-Ti Wang
 Beyond Boundaries: East and West Cross-Cultural Encounters vii

Chapter Thirteen...................................................................................... 226

Marketing the Other: Exoticism in the Promotion of Literature
from the Middle East and Asia
Duygu Tekgül

Contributors............................................................................................. 245

Index........................................................................................................ 249